US: Release ex-lawyer convicted in terror case

Associated Press

NEW YORK -- The government has asked a New York judge to release a dying former civil rights lawyer who was convicted in a terrorism case from prison.The government made the request on behalf of Lynne Stewart in a letter to U.S. District Judge John Koeltl on Tuesday. Koeltl has said he cannot release her early without a recommendation for "compassionate release" from prison authorities.Prosecutors said in their letter that the director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons was making the request along with prosecutors. The 74-year-old Stewart was not scheduled for release until August 2018. Prosecutors say she suffers from recurrent stage-four breast cancer.Stewart has been imprisoned since 2009 after she was convicted of helping a blind Egyptian sheik communicate with his followers from prison.

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